Top 10 Chinese love (romance) movies

Love is an eternal topic for us. Romantic movies are good escapes and fantasies for audiences, especially when the two finally overcome their obstacles, get into a relationship, and live “happily ever after”. This list shows the top ten classic Chinese love movies in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan:

1. Almost a Love Story (1996) 甜蜜蜜

The year of 1996 coincided with the eve of the Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese government, and also one year after the death of the song queen Teresa Teng. Set in this special background, the movie tells the difficult life of the new immigrants in Hong Kong in the late 20th century, Teng’s song “As Sweet as Honey” plays all through the movie and successfully seizes the common emotions of people from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The story began in 1986 and ended on Teresa death date in 1995 and the film demonstrates common people’s fate within the 10 years before the historical handover of Hong Kong.

2. An Autumn’s Tale (1987) 秋天的童话

An Autumn’s Tale is a classic 1987 Hong Kong romantic film starring Chow Yun-fat and Cherie Chung. The movie tells the love story between two Chinese living in New York city. The film, with its exquisite and subtle style, won lots of awards in Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards, and is still one of the most classic Chinese art films even now.

3. A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora’s Box (1994) 大话西游

A Chinese Odyssey is co-tragicomedy film starring Stephen Chow, Karen Mok and Ng Man Tat. The film combines comedy, martial art and a love story together and helped Chow win the reputation as the master of postmodern comedy; it is actually a pair of two simultaneously released films, named Pandora’s Box and Cinderella. The movie did not sell well in Hong Kong but was well received in Mainland China.

4. Lion Roars (2002) 河东狮吼

The Lion Roars is a 2002 Hong Kong starring Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung, Fan Bingbing. It is adapted from the popular Chinese folk tale “A lion roars in the east bank”(describing the fear of a henpecked husband). The movie tells story between the ancient little man Chen Jichang and his termagant wife Liu Yuee. These two ancient characters, together with some “modernization”, make it turn into very entertaining and popular costume comedy.

5. The Knot (2006) 云水谣

The Knot is the first joint blockbuster movie between Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The plotline revolves around three people’s love and tells a 60 years faithful love story across the Taiwan Strait in the turbulent years. The movie obtained the Best Film at Golden Rooster Awards 2007.

6. A Time to Love (2005) 情人结

A Time to Love features two well-known stars Zhao Wei and Lu Yi. Based on a true story, the film tells the love story between Qu Ran (Vicki Zhao) and Hou Jia (Lu Yi), they love each other for many years and finally break through the obstacles and get together.

7. In the Mood for Love （2000）花样年华

In The Mood For Love is a 2000 movie by director Wong Kar Wai. The background is set in the early 1960s’ Hong Kong. The newspaper editor Chow Mo-Wan and his wife move into an apartment, almost the same time the young and beautiful lady Su Lizhen and her husband working in a Japanese company also move in. Later, the two find their respective spouses have an affair with each other. The two started have subtle feelings to each other.

8. Fly Me to Polaris (1999) 星语心愿

Fly Me to Polaris is a fantasy romantic movie starring Cecilia Cheung and Richie Ren. The film tells the fantasy love story between the leading roles Onion and Qiu Nan. It was well received by audiences for its mixture of tragic drama and tear-moving romance.

9. Turn Left, Turn Right (2003) 向左走，向右走

Turn Left, Turn Right is a 2003 romance film starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Gigi Leung. The story is adapted from the comic book A Chance of Sunshine by Jimmy Liao from Taiwan. The Young boy John and young girl Eve meet in childhood, but do not know each other. When growing up they live in the same apartment of the same city, but still strangers. They meet again in the park, but still do not notice the other. Eventually one day they see each other, in the ruins of an earthquake.

10. Red Dust (1990) 滚滚红尘

The 1990 film Red Dust features famous actors of Brigitte Lin, Qin Han and Maggie Cheung. The film alludes to the relationship between female writer Eileen Chang and Hu Lancheng starting from 1935 through to 1949.